Being Known, Being Loved

Some people have an eye for gift giving - or gift choosing, perhaps I should say. I am kind of gift giving challenged. Almost every year for me, it's the same old thing as Christmas approaches, racking my brain trying to think up interesting gifts to get for friends and family.

In the past few days, I've been given a couple of gifts that astounded me. Not because they were so fancy or costly or rare, but because my friends saw something that so reminded them of me, they were moved to get it and give it to me.

I had to miss the annual "girls' day out" with a small group of friends. They told me that they had missed me, and gave me a little present to demonstrate it. It was perfect - a little ornament in the shape of a front door with a wreath hung on it. It's just too cute! My friends know I have a thing for doors and windows, and have several door-like objet d'art hanging on my living room wall that this ornament matches perfectly.

Then last night another girlfriend and I exchanged gifts. Since she likes monkeys, I found another silly monkey-related present for her (a pair of slippers that look like sock monkeys, which she assures me are very comfy!). She gave me an object whose purpose was a mystery for a moment. It was a designed rack of some sort. My first guess was a plant rack, but it wasn't really the correct proportions.

It turned out to be a teacup rack that displays four cups and saucers. I was very moved because while she and her husband were browsing antique shops on vacation in August, she saw it and thought of me. She knows I have a number of old teacups that used to belong to my Mom. While the store had a number of antique teacups for sale, she knew that a more meaningful gift would be a way to display the cups from my Mom.

She also bought me a vintage glass Christmas ornament in the shape of Big Ben, because she knows I've been planning a trip to the UK (unfortunately delayed till the US$ gets a little healthier).

Now these three gifts are proudly set out on my living room table. My former pastor used to say that being known is important for us humans. Exchanging gifts with friends is fun, but much more meaningful than having the gifts is having friends whom I know and love, and who know me and love me. I feel very blessed this Christmas.

(To my special friends: you know who you are and that I love you!)

Drastic Changes

I hate playing around with my hair. That's basically the reason I grew it so long. Of course, once it got growing, it got to be a little contest with self to see just how long I was willing to let it go.

A couple of years ago when I cut a considerable length off of it, I was able to donate it to Locks of Love. However, I only had 6 inches, instead of the preferred 10 inches. That's okay, they Locks of Love can sell it 'to offset costs', as they say. But this time around, I wanted to give enough hair to make a wig.

So yesterday, my favorite hairdresser, Olivia, put my hair into a bunch of smaller ponytails - after asking me about sixteen times if I really wanted to cut that much off - and made my head several pounds lighter. (It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference in frequency of headaches.)

Even though I've been through this once before, fairly recently, I was still surprised at just how much hair that made, when gathered all together. I've been told I've got a lot of hair, but blonde hair tends to be smaller in circumference than other colors, so it appears thinner... not true here.

We ended up with a big hunk of ponytail about as big around as my wrist.

Here are some of the fun residuals. I posted the photo of me and Olivia on my Facebook page, and have gotten a bunch of comments on it. One of my friends said that she'd done the exact same thing yesterday. If I'm reading her comment right, my appointment was at 1:00, and hers was at 2:00! I wonder if she went to the same shop...

Is there such a thing as too much time spent online??

Okay, I realize that I am not an active person (coughunderstatementcough). That part I get: sitting all the time means that you're not getting enough exercise, no matter why you're sitting. You could be reading, writing, crafting, solving world peace, or stalking connecting with people on Facebook.

But really, I love connecting with people! And I think it's a really cool thing that these friends whom I haven't seen or had real contact in decades, I can communicate with them, let them know they're in my thoughts, know a little bit about their lives, their families, their sorrows, their joys.

(And send them oh-so-thoughtful-and-free cyber gifts from time to time, like an egg that hatches into a little puppy, f'rinstance.)

Oh the joy I feel when the little notification turns out to be a friend request - especially from someone who really is an old friend, not just some passing acquaintance through work or some other network.

"Will you be my friend?"
"You want me to be your friend?? Yes! Yes! Of course we are friends!!"

But if you talk about Facebook, people think that's the only thing you're doing, regardless if half your online time is spent doing all your shopping, correspondence, flickring and blogging.

I've been told (by good friends, actually) that I really need to get a life.

Hmmm. While that might be a valid observation, even if a cruelly delivered one, I still maintain that spending time virtually connecting with people is valuable, particularly when it's not possible to connect with them in person.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.